From: "Kevin"
Date: Sat, 13 Aug 2011 22:34:56 -0500
Subject: [BARGE] BARGE Pre-trip Report


Before I post a trip report, I want to take care of the most important thing
- namely saying Thank You.

To the organizers emeritus, Mike Zimmers and Chuck Weinstock:

BARGE would not be BARGE if it wasn't for the vision you had and hard work
that you have done in years past.  Ok, so the vision was somewhat blurred by
alcohol consumption, and the hard work resulted in lots of gratification,
but hopefully you get the point. You guys were the foundation of BARGE, and
for all of the fun that we continue to have, we owe you a debt of gratitude.

Chuck, I was saddened to miss out annual shrimp cocktail outing. I had an
enormous amount of fun at BARGE this year, but even so, I missed out on our
conversations. I wasn't even tempted to go it alone, as the best part of the
shrimp cocktail is the company that we share.
 

To the current organizers, Peter, Mike and Nick:

I don't know how else to say it - you guys are the nuts. Both as in the best
poker hand, as well as being a bit wacko. You have to be to put up with this
group. I'm sure that most of us have no idea the amount of work that you
three put in not only at BARGE, but also the countless hours involved
getting BARGE organized, contracts negotiated and signed, poker tournaments
set up, tournament structures set up, registration, money, food, etc. etc.
etc. BARGE is the party that it is BECAUSE of you guys. 


To the dealers at Binion's:

You guys are the best, there's no doubt about it. You let us have our fun,
but still manage to keep the games under control. You give us the
opportunity to settle our own disputes before calling the floor for a
ruling. You say "Thank you" when we toke. You smile and have fun, but still
manage to keep the games going smoothly and efficiently.  One or two dealers
with bad attitudes and certainly ruin our party, and I'm very glad to say
that I experienced no bad attitudes. Now, if only management would let you
share a cocktail or two with us...

 
To the Binion's floor staff:

The job you guys did was simply amazing. From my perspective, everything ran
great. I was in the poker room early on Thursday morning, and I saw that
there was a staff meeting, where the format of the CHORSE tournament was
being discussed, as well as the games themselves. I saw a similar thing
happen before the "Reindeer Games" session on Saturday. You made sure that
your dealers were extremely well prepared, and the net result was an
outstanding week long performance. We have often said that Binion's "gets
us". I used to think that simply meant they let have our version of fun, as
long as it doesn't get out of control. I now realize that this also means
getting serious when it's time to get serious, so that our events can run
like a well oiled machine.


To the Symposium crew:

I was not paying a lot of attention, but I know that things ran well, as
they usually do. Peter, Mick, Nick, Russ, Kevan - Thanks! I'm not sure who
was running things at the table, but I'm sure you did an excellent job as
well.
 

To the Goldman's - Dan, Sharon, and Bree:

Thanks for another last minute miracle karaoke session! Thanks for hosting
the smoker (although I never  attend due to the smoking) and also for the
3rd Annual BARGE Hangover party. It's a great way to wind up the week. 

 
To Asya and Ben:

Sushi wouldn't happen without organizers. Thanks for the work that you both
do for this event. I always enjoy it immensely. This was the first year I
sampled the Saki, and it was a great experience. Asya, you always pay the
bill, and that involves some risk. I hope that everyone eventually catches
up with you and ponies up their share. 
 

To the ADB's who organize the Craps Crawl:

 The craps crawl provides a great deal of fun, especially for those who have
never played before. It's a great way to have a few laughs, a few beers, and
enjoy the -EV side of Vegas. 


To everyone who brings a car:

I usually rent a car in Vegas. Actually, this was the first year I didn't. I
now know what it's like to be someone who is bumming rides, and I appreciate
those who gave me lifts this year.

 
To Kevan Garrett for organizing the Death March, and to others who organize
unofficial events:

I don't play golf any more, but it's the unofficial events such as the golf
outing, the sushi outing, the fun run, the treks to the pinball museum - all
of these things help to make BARGE what it is. The unofficial events assure
that there is something for everyone. 


To Rodney Chen:

In years past, donations and contributions have helped cover the costs of
the photography, and hopefully this year was no different. That
notwithstanding, I (and many others) sincerely appreciate the time and
effort that you put in. You haul expensive equipment and bring a tremendous
amount of talent each and every year so that we can all have awesome photos.
My appreciation extends beyond BARGE, because the help and advice that you
have given to me over the years has made me a better photographer and
allowed me to move forward with my hobby/tiny business of sports
photography. Thank you for sharing your talents. 

 
To Nolan Dalla:

Without getting into details, I have heard mention of the things that you do
behind the scenes to help make BARGE a better event for everyone. I know
that there have been times that you have been called upon for help and
support, and that is very much appreciated.
 

To Patrick Milligan:

The chips, the pins, the badges, and all the printed materials are the
direct result of your efforts, either in whole or in part. Year after year
you've been helping long before BARGE even beings, and your work is also
appreciated.
 

To our sponsors:

Wow! Given the current environment, I would not have been surprised to
discover that BARGE 2011 was without sponsors however, this was not the
case. We did have sponsorship again this year. The unselfish contributions
that our sponsors make to BARGE enable us to improve the quality of our
experience. Thank you very much.
 

To our guest speaker Mori Eskandari:

Thank you for coming and sharing your thoughts and experiences. The work
that you do to bring poker to television is extraordinary, to say the least.
I found your talk to be very interesting and I hope that you enjoyed your
experience at BARGE.
 

To Bob Herlien and Rich Bremer:

Thanks for taking the time to share meals with me. Bob, it was great
catching up with you and what's going on in your life. I'll pass on your
advice to my son, as he beings his career as an Illini. Rich, it was great
chatting with you over that steak dinner. Even though I did most of the
talking, I did give you a chance to get a few words in and I got to learn a
few things about you and your life. I appreciate the conversation that we
shared, and also appreciate the fact that you noticed we were given the
wrong check! Also, I have never ever won at heads up Credit Card Roulette,
so thanks for not insisting that we play!


To Low Roller participants:

Thanks for playing! It was my first attempt at doing this, and I really
appreciate the participation and positive feedback. The idea was not to
detract from the symposium, but rather to complement it. I don't think the
Symposium was harmed one bit by the Low Rollers, and I have had several
people volunteer to help make improvements. Look for a more sophisticated
version in 2012.

Finally, there is always someone who gets forgotten. There's a lot that goes
into making BARGE what it is, and many people who work in the shadows (or at
least away from the spotlight) to make BARGE what it is. To all of those
unsung heroes: THANK YOU!!!!

Well, that was almost a trip report in itself. I'm still working on putting
my TR together, and I'll probably post it in several sections over the next
week or so.

 

-Un

A+++ G+++ PKR+ PEG- B++ TB ADB+ M+


From: "Kevin"
Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2011 14:03:27 -0500
Subject: [BARGE] BARGE 2011 Trip Report - Day 1


WEDNESDAY

 

WARNING - ob preflight and flight details. Skip this if you want poker
content only. What follows in this section is not an important part of
BARGE, but it was an important part of my BARGE. 

 

********************

I flew out on Wednesday evening via SWA, but almost didn't make the flight
for several different reasons. I haven't had to pay for a flight to Vegas in
at least 10 years, and I wasn't interested in seeing that streak end. SWA
has started a new frequent flyer program with no restrictions and blackout
dates, but I still had a free roundtrip coming from the old system, which
did have restrictions. By the time I was able to work things out so that I
could get to BARGE this year, all of my ideal flights were booked so I had
to keep visiting the SWA website in the hopes that something was going to
become available. Much like poker, if you keep persisting, playing pot after
pot and never folding on the river, eventually you will win one. I was
delighted to see on my n-hundreth attempt that I could actually book a round
trip during BARGE.

 

As I was approaching security at the airport, my phone rang. It was a
customer in Kansas City who had a major problem and it needed to be
addressed right away. Since the only way I can connect to his facility is
via modem, I was in a bit of a quandary. Helping him out would mean
returning to the office and missing my flight. There was only one other
flight to LV that evening, and I knew I would not make it back to the
airport in time to board that one. Luckily, I called one of my business
partners and he was still in the office. I asked him if he would handle the
situation, and he agreed to help. 

 

When I reached the gate, I asked if the flight would be full, and I as
advised that it would, As a matter of fact, they were looking for volunteers
to get bumped. I volunteered , which would have gotten me $100 cash, a free
round trip voucher and a seat on the next flight, but as it turned out, two
people didn't show up for the flight, so I did not cash on the freeroll.

 

I boarded the plane and got lucky again. The window seat in the First Class
section was available! For those of you who have never flown Southwest,
there is no designated First Class section, but there is an Emergency Exit
row that has TONS of leg room. Those of us without our own Leer jets like to
refer to this as First Class.

 

My day had been quite hectic and I was a bit troubled, but I knew that it
was all going to be behind me once I landed in LV. As it turns out, it
didn't take anywhere near that long. It was not long after I was seated that
a very properly dressed gentlemen asked if the middle seat was available.
When I say "properly dressed" I mean in uniform. United States Navy. We
quickly struck up a conversation that included everything from sports to
photography to economics to engineering to fractal geometry. Yup, that's
right - fractal geometry. It seems he was unfamiliar with the concept, but
quickly fascinated by it. He actually wrote the term down and vowed to
educate himself further. I'm certainly no expert on the subject, but it
seems that I knew enough about it to make it interesting.

 

He told me about life on a nuclear submarine. I found that extremely
interesting. After a while, the conversation moved on to families, as
conversations often do. He was flying out to see his daughter, who was
turning 7. He said that it had been many years since he had been able to
share his daughter's birthday with her, and he was really looking forward to
this event. I did the 21st Century equivalent of taking out my wallet and
showing photos of my kids by using my new phone, and after I was finished,
he showed photos of his daughter, and all of my troubles became
insignificant in almost an instant. 

 

I saw photos of her when she was a baby. I saw photos of her when she was 1
and when she was 2. I saw photos of her when she was 5 and still had her
hair. I saw photos of her in a hospital bed, bald from Chemo.  She is now
finished with Chemo and she will be getting a bone marrow transplant.
Somehow, she is getting a bone marrow transplant from herself. I'm going to
have to read up on that, because I'm not sure how that works, and why it
would be effective.

 

Naturally, this young man seated next to me wanted to be a donor. I say
naturally, but in reality this is no trivial thing. My understanding is that
bone marrow transplants are extremely painful - so much so that when my
father was sick, and they did a bone marrow test, he told me NOT to be a
donor. He said he had never experienced anything more painful in his life
and wouldn't want me to have to experience it.  As it turns out, he did not
need a transplant, but that is another story.

 

Here's the rub: As a father, this young man wanted to be able to give his
daughter a transplant because the closer the relation, there higher the
probability of a match. But as a member of the USN, he doesn't actually have
the right to do that because he no longer owns his own body. Can you even
imagine the emotional pain that could cause? I have no doubt that it is far
worse than the physical pain of the transplant itself.

 

I noticed in one of the photographs that his daughter's hospital bed
contained several stuffed animals. I asked him if this brought her some
measure of comfort, and he said that it did. I told him that I had done a
great deal of work for TY corporation (the maker of Beanie Babies) and that
I had a closet full of them. I offered to send as many as he wanted, as he
thanked me. I gave him a business card as we left the plane, and asked him
to contact me. We went down to retrieve our luggage and parted ways - me off
to play poker and enjoy a nice scotch, which I was so happily looking
forward to - and him, off to get his rental car, drive through the night and
spend time with his daughter, which he was undoubtedly looking forward to
with immeasurably more happiness. When BARGE is over, I will return to my
wonderful family and face the struggles of running a business. When BARGE is
over, he will leave his family and return to a submersible tin can, and
sacrifice basically everything he has to protect the way of life that I
take for granted. I may never see nor hear from this person ever again, but
he will always be a part of my BARGE 2011. 

 

********************

 

I grabbed a cab and headed for Main Street Station, where I had a two night
comp. I checked in with no hassles and headed over to Binion's to see what
was going on. I sat in a 2-4 LHE game, as the two Dealer's Choice games were
full. I saw Peter Secor, who told me that he had a spot on the McLibtards
CHORSE team if I wanted a seat. Maybe he figured that since I was from
Chicago, I must be a registered democrat. I'm not.  I told him that I would
be happy to play despite my political convictions. I saw my "born-again
virgin" friend Mike "North Shore" McManus. I've lost count as to how many
years you have missed BARGE Mike, but don't be in a hurry to start a new
streak, ok? I didn't see Murray (those two are usually joined at the hip)
and for a brief moment I wondered if North Shore might really be Murray in
disguise, but realizing that Canadians are not that clever, I quickly
discounted that notion. 

 

In short, there were smiles and hugs from just about everyone (people tend
to react that way when you haven't seen them in a year and you owe them
money) and for me, BARGE had officially begun.

 

It was a long day (actually it was already tomorrow - even without the time
change) and I'm old, so off to bed I went - to dream of CHORSE and the
implications of hanging out with a bunch of socialists for several hours in
the morning.

 

-Un

A+++ G+++ PKR+ PEG- B++ TB ADB+ M+


From: "Kevin"
Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2011 15:52:38 -0500
Subject: [BARGE] BARGE 2011 Trip Report - Day 2


(Recap from Wednesday Day 1)

Dodged a customer, got on a plane, chatted with a hero, landed safely,
grabbed a cab (did not get tunneled), checked in, went to Binions, got hugs,
play poker, made money, drank scotch, got recruited to the McLibtard's
CHORSE team.

 

 

THURSDAY

I woke up in plenty of time to make the CHORSE tournament and I gave Peter
my $70. I then headed over to the 4 Queens for breakfast. I looked around
and noticed that several CHORSE teams were there having breakfast and
planning their strategies. I was offered a seat by Russ Fox, and I accepted
the invitation. I must apologize to the two others who were sitting at the
table, because I cannot seem to remember who they were. One might have been
David Lawful. David, I know that I talked to you at BARGE, but I just don't
remember the circumstances. Regardless, Talking with you is always a
pleasure.  

 

Back to Binion's, and a brief discussion with Goldie. It seems that, as
Mattel's Barbie is famous for saying," Math is hard" because Peter had also
recruited Crunch to the CHORSE team. Adding two players to fill one spot was
a bit of a miscalculation, but I still had an out - Nolan Dalla was nowhere
to be found. Of course, the whole thing makes sense from a McLibtard's point
of view: Collect taxes from two people and distribute them to one, using the
remaining funds to place someone else on the government payroll, who will in
turn vote for you come election time.

 

Anyway, with about 15 minutes to spare, Nolan finally did stroll in, so I
was out. Bummer. In my depressed state, I located Peter and asked for a
refund of my $70, but he declined saying that as a rich republican, it was
*my* civic duty to "Pay my fair share" and as a socialist, it was his civic
duty to control the redistribution of the wealth.

 

I played ring games whilst CHORSE was being played, and had much fun r00ling
my table. The highlight for me was 3-betting preflop with 7-3o, and then
pounding the pot street after street on a board of A-K-4-6-9. After my river
bet my sole remaining opponent, a non-BARGER in the 2 seat folded.  I
flashed my hand and then quickly mucked it. As I was stacking the pot, he
asked, "Did you show 7-3?". 

 

"Yes",  I replied.

 

"You're sick", he commented.

 

"Yes", I replied.

 

"No, you're REALLY sick", he said.

 

"Yes" I replied. "I'm from BARGE. We'll be here all week."

 

 

Sometime later, a nice older lady to my right found herself in the BB vs.
Patrick in the SB. The flop came with three diamonds, and Patrick
check/called. The turn brought nothing of interest, and Patrick check/called
again. The river brought a fourth diamond, and Patrick led out. The nice
older lady called with her remaining chips, and Patrick revealed the Ace of
Diamonds for the nut flush. The nice older lady showed to baby diamonds and
then frowned. 

 

She stood to leave, and I said, "That was very unfortunate, ma'am".

 

"No", she said, "That SUCKED"!

 

I lost it right then and there. Well said, ma'am.

 

******

Ok, I have a confession to make: The part about paying Peter money for
CHORSE was pure fiction. Gotcha! Hopefully, someone had a good laugh over
that.

******

 

SUSHI

This was my first BARGE without a car, so I had to bum a ride to the sushi
outing. Patti and I rode with Diane Mercer and her hubby. We thought we were
going to be early, but slightly more than half of our party was already
there. We were served some sort of sushi-nacho-thingie, and  others BARGErs
arrived shortly after us. The sushi outing is always great fun. Many thanks
to Asya for organizing again, and to Ben for the premium Saki tasting.
Actually, I need to thank Jeff "Blofeld" Deitch too. I had planned on
renting a car, so I didn't register for Saki. Jeff's wife had planned on
drinking premium Saki, but was unable to attend, so Jeff offered me her
spot. I tried to pay him, but he insisted on letting me freeroll. DING!

 

Next came some Sex on the Beach, followed by an almost never-ending series
of Screaming Orgasms. There was Unagi, Giant Clam, Dragon Roll, Spider Roll,
Soft Shelled Crab - you name it, we had it. 

 

As usual, Asya and I discussed setting the Over/Under line. Just so you
know, we do not actually look at the bill before setting the line - we don't
even do any rough calculations. We do however, make our best guess and then
try to "fool" as many people as we can. We both felt that the final bill
would come out to around $45/person, but we also thought that there would be
a predisposition to bet the under, so we decided to set the line at $42.25.

 

In most years, the majority is fooled, and the Under wins. This year,
BARGErs were split right down the middle, with 17 taking the OVER and 17
taking the Under. The final bill came to $46.00 each, and the Overs were
victorious for the second year in a row. Asya and I will have to keep that
in mind for next year.  

 

I rode back to Binion's with Diane, Patti and Steve (?). Sorry, too many
Sakis. I wasn't registered to play in the BARGE tournament that night, so I
sat in on the Binion's 7pm No Limit, which we ended up chopping 4 ways.
That's kind of like winning, right? More ring games followed, (yummy) and
then it was time for the ADB Craps Crawl.

 




ABD Craps Crawl

We started at Binion's, as tradition requires. We're older, if not wiser
than we used to be, so this year's excursion began at 11:00pm instead of the
usual midnight hour. Binion's lowered the table minimum from $10 to $5 ($10
craps at Binion's - in THIS economy?) so all could participate. If you
fancied the Dark Side against this year's Virgin Shooter, Tracy B, then you
certainly regretted it at some point within the next half hour. Well done
Tracy!

 

I headed over to Main Street before the rest of the group to secure a table,
and let them know that cocktail waitresses(plural) would soon be needed.
When the rest of the tour arrived, everything was ready. The dice were hot
and the drinks were cold. I placed a $20 DON'T PASS for ADB Jaeger, which I
owed him because he outlasted me in this year's WRGPT. This year was my
highest WRGPT finish ever, but still Eric crushed me. Summary for Eric: One
point established, 5 numbers rolled, and then, "Winner! Pay the Line" was
heard. Eric lost, and that was the last DON'T bet I made the entire trip.
Mickdog had given me $10 to bet for Eric on the Don't, but I never got it
down, so Eric you've got more action in case you pu77y out on next year's
BARGE too!

 

I can't say how long the group lasted, because I wandered off to bed
sometime before sunrise. At least, I think it was before sunrise..

 

 

-Un

A+++ G+++ PKR+ PEG- B++ TB ADB+ M+